At least 18 dead as tornadoes hit Arkansas, Oklahoma

AT LEAST 18 people are dead after a series of devastating tornadoes hit Arkansas and Oklahoma, flattening buildings and uprooting trees.

Network writers, AP

News Corp AustraliaApril 29, 20149:02am

Deadly tornado devastates Oklahoma0:54

A news reporter live on the scene in Oklahoma struggles to describe the devastation as he looks down on the Tornado ravaged region. Courtesy FOX News.

April 28th 2014

3 years ago

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A TORNADO system that ripped through the central US has left at least 18 people dead, officials say.

Less than two hours before the tornado hit Arkansas, a twister hit the small town of Quapaw in Oklahoma, killing at least one person.

News_Image_File: Devastating damage .. first responders, volunteers and firemen gather on Main Street in Quapaw, Oklahoma, after the tornado struck.

Ottawa County Emergency Management director Joe Dan Morgan said Quapaw, which has a population of about 900, was badly damaged by the tornado.

“Looks like about half of the town got extensive damage as well as the fire department,” he said.

News_Image_File: Powerful storm ... a man walks past wrecked cars in Mayflower, Arkansas. The Arkansas tornado touched down west of Little Rock and crossed the Arkansas River northwest of the city on Sunday evening (local time).

The tornado missed the state capital of Little Rock, but passed through or near several of its suburbs, causing widespread damage in the communities of Mayflower and Vilonia.

“It’s chaos right now,” the mayor of the Arkansas town of Vilonia, James Firestone, told CNN. Late on Sunday, emergency crews used search lights to comb through the debris in some of the hardest-hit areas.

The central part of the town of 4000 “seems like it’s completely levelled. There’s a few buildings partially standing, gas lines spewing. Fire lines down. We’ve had some casualties.”

Speaking from Manila, US President Barack Obama offered condolences and promised federal government aid.

News_Image_File: Wrecked ... travel trailers and motor homes are piled on top of each other in Mayflower, Arkansas.

Officials in Arkansas say 15 people were killed when tornadoes touched down on Sunday, while in Oklahoma at least two people died and one died in Iowa.

“It’s been a truly awful night for many families, neighbourhoods and communities but Arkansans always step up to help each other recover,” Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe wrote on Twitter.

News_Image_File: Wreaking havoc ... the tornado hit Baxter Springs, Kansas, but no deaths have been reported. The tornado turned buildings into rubble and stripped the leaves and smaller branches off trees.

Damaged vehicles were strewn across the road and trees had their limbs stripped by the storm.

Television footage shows damaged vehicles along a road north of state capital on Sunday and trees that were stripped of their leaves and small branches along Interstate 40 between the suburbs of Maumelle and Mayflower.

Forecasters also asked people to be alert for possible tornadoes in a wide swath of the Midwest and south, stretching from Omaha, Nebraska, south to Texas and east to northern Louisiana and Mississippi.

AP reporting 2 dead from a tornado in Quapaw, OK which is west of Joplin. You can see a destroyed building there. pic.twitter.com/mhXRtvsjIC

“The greatest risk for a few intense tornadoes will exist across much of Arkansas perhaps into western and central Missouri,” a weather service advisory said.

The first reported tornado from the storm system touched down on Sunday afternoon in a rural area in central in Nebraska. The weather service said it remained on the ground for only a short time, and there were no immediate reports of damage.

News_Image_File: Debris ... residents of Quapaw survey the damage after their neighbourhood was struck by a tornado. Picture: Gary Crow / Tulsa World

Tornado watches — which means twisters could develop but aren't an immediate threat — were in effect for states as far west as New Mexico and as far east as Tennessee, and the system produced storms that were moving through the region in waves.

Areas that don't get tornadoes could still get buffeted by hail and powerful straight-line winds. Forecasters warned of hail stones as big as baseballs and wind gusts that could reach hurricane-force — 120km/h or higher.

Gusts of up to 96km/h were registered during a story that hit south-eastern Iowa on Sunday that damaged several buildings, including a barn that injured someone when it was blown over.

Earlier on Sunday afternoon, a strong line of storms moved through west-central Missouri, bringing winds that reached 112km/h near Chillicothe, Missouri, that toppled some trees.

The Missouri Highway Patrol also reported a tractor-trailer was blown onto its side on Interstate 70 about 48km east of Kansas City about 1pm. No one was injured.

The weather service received a report from Plattsburg, Missouri, where an anemometer measured 58m/ph before it blew away. Golf ball-sized hail was reported at Overland Park, Kansas, and Trimble, Missouri.

Severe thunderstorm watches covered portions of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri through Sunday night. The primary threats were damaging wind gusts and large hail.